Revisiting William Ellis after 48 years - reflections from an Old Elysian

I attended the William Ellis Trust launch event hosted by Alastair Campbell on 23rd October. It was my first visit back to the school in 48 years and I was asked if I would jot down a few observations from my visit.

Prior to the event, I was asked by my family how I would feel about returning after so long. In truth, I did not know how I would feel – that was part of the attraction of doing it.

Certainly, little has changed on Highgate Road as I walked up from Kentish Town until I got to the Downing Street style gates at the entrance to the school site. On the way up the path to the left, as far as dusk would allow me to see, was the green slab that houses the LaSWAP sixth form. So far, so new. What was not new was the school building itself, reassuringly neat, sturdy and substantial. Once I stepped inside, I received a very warm welcome but where was the school hall previously visible from the front door?

 The building

The old school hall has been reconfigured so that the school assembly space is now upstairs, the floor extended from where the gallery protruded from the upper wall.

One of the senior staff kindly offered me a tour of the building before proceedings began. Whilst the wooden floored corridors remain there was little else that was familiar apart from the ICT room that I knew as the woodwork room. Even the workbenches looked very similar.

The William Ellis of the 1970s had an independent school feel, cream painted walls, wooden doors and floors and stone staircases. The building has been adapted over the years to ensure every bit of space is utilised and where possible added to – for example the impressive looking sports hall. Gone, are the platforms in classrooms on which the masters’ desks sat, chalk boards and pupils desks with empty inkwells all replaced by more practical pieces of furniture housed in brightly lit classrooms with various items of technology waiting to be used. Throughout the school the walls are now painted bright white, and the stone staircases are also coated in a shade of military grey.

The work that has been done to the building means it has a very different flow to it punctuated by the inevitable need to present a pass at various points to proceed. So much so, it bore little relation to the place I remembered.

But, as the evening wore on, I realised these superficial differences did not represent a diminishing of the use of the school space or my previously held memories. What was different was how the purpose of the school was enacted.

The purpose

For most of my time at the school (1970 – 1977) the headmaster was Sidney Baxter. He and his senior team fostered a patrician air that sometimes jarred against the questioning social movements of the time. Success was measured by pupils gaining their university places – ideally Oxbridge in the hope that in time, these graduates would contribute positively to wider society.  The sense of community was reinforced by the termly singing of The Elysian (the school song) and acceptance of the need to live by the school motto – Rather Use than Fame – that was very rarely, if ever, discussed but was somehow absorbed by students at the school. I have always felt that the school developed in me a sense of curiosity and questioning that has stood me in good stead ever since.

The intervening years have seen a significant fragmenting of the family unit, the wane of practiced religion, faith in governments, the royal family and other institutions being tested and found wanting alongside the development of broadcast and social media all challenging young impressionable minds (and older ones) to make sense of their place in the world. Against this backdrop, young men are trying to evaluate their views referencing their own moral compass and expectations.

Meanwhile, it seems increasingly left to schools and workplaces to articulate ‘values’ in the absence of there being any consensus across society of what these should look like.

William Ellis School is rising to that challenge by spelling out through the school Purpose, Vision, Aims and Values what the school motto looks like in practical terms giving students the confidence to exercise a sense of critical thinking that enables them to sift out the welter of information, data and opinion that will lead them to a reasoned and more importantly, a reasonable rather than extreme conclusion. Virtues that were evident to all who attended the on-stage discussion between the legendarily robust Alastair Campbell and six current pupils from the school.

The Head Teacher Izzy Jones deserves great credit for taking a leadership role in proactively seeking to develop this critical thinking in her students who might otherwise be left to the mercy of other less invested, influences.

William Ellis gave me a valuable education in helping me to develop an enquiring mind and the confidence to express my opinions in a safe environment that complemented my family upbringing. Today’s pupils should feel entitled to that same start and it is reassuring that whilst the school is different in facilities, demographics and tone, it still seeks to develop informed and responsible citizens who I am sure will continue,  in the school tradition, to contribute positively to wider society.

Patrick Brennan

November 2025